Maternity unit partner ban ‘is human rights violation’
Senator speaks out as campaigners stage protests outside hospitals
Irish hospitals were violating the human rights of expectant mothers by denying them the support of a partner during clinic visits and labour, an Oireachtas senator has said.
Restrictions on partners accompanying pregnant women to hospital were imposed by the country’s 19 public maternity units at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak to stem the spread of the virus.
Fourteen months later the bans remain in place, even though the Health Service Executive instructed the hospitals this week that the restrictions were not national policy.
Women protest outside maternity hospitals over Covid restrictions Birthing partners must be reclassified as ‘essential’, says TD
Tue, May 11, 2021, 18:23 Updated: Tue, May 11, 2021, 18:44
A series of protests have taken place outside maternity hospitals across the State as coronavirus restrictions excluding partners from attending with expectant mothers continue.
The Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS) held a series of protests at Holles Street and the Coombe in Dublin, as well as hospitals in Donegal and Louth calling for leadership and joined-up thinking to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Despite a HSE circular calling on hospitals to facilitate partners to attend visits, in many instances restrictions are being kept in place at local level.
No need for maternity service restrictions now - Taoiseach
The Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS) staged a series of protests at Holles Street and the Coombe in Dublin, as well as hospitals in Donegal and Louth
Members of the campaign group The Association for Improvements in Maternity Services protest outside the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin against the banning of birthing partners from maternity Hospitals (Niall Carson/PA)
Tue, 11 May, 2021 - 17:27
Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner and James Ward, PA
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said there should be no restrictions on partners attending maternity services, despite several hospitals refusing access.
Anger And Confusion Over Maternity Ward Restrictions
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There has been anger and confusion among expectant parents over maternity ward restrictions for partners.
On Wednesday, first-time father Gary Toohey tweeted a photo of himself in a carpark, waving up at the window of a maternity hospital.
He wasn t allowed into the hospital until his partner Joyce went into active labour.
Hours away from having our first child and there I am waving up at herself from outside the hospital on the street, where do you begin.. pic.twitter.com/GGyfRnf0X7
Gary joined us on The Last Word along with Krysia Lynch, Chair of AIMS Ireland, to discuss the impact these restrictions are having on pregnant women and their partners.
HSE says conditions are right for restrictions on partners in maternity hospitals to be lifted
HSE CEO Paul Reid said today he is writing to all maternity units about partner restrictions. By Orla Dwyer Thursday 6 May 2021, 5:58 PM 7 hours ago 16,962 Views 24 Comments
Image: Shutterstock/Motortion Films
Updated 3 hours ago
THE ISSUE OF partner restrictions remaining in some maternity services has been raised numerous times in the Dáil today, as the HSE has said the “conditions are right” for the restrictions to be lifted.
Labour leader Alan Kelly today asked the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to ensure there would be “consistency in service to allow partners to be with their partners in the delivery of maternity services”.